


Time Steps

by noblydonedonnanoble



Series: Dance Class AU [2]
Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 16:46:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4443929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>David looks down at his phone to check the time; exactly a minute has passed since he last looked. Still five minutes to go before curtain. “This is her first time on stage. What if something goes wrong and it’s incredibly traumatic and she can never get up on stage again?”</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Six years after the events of, "It Takes Two To Tango," David and Catherine attend their daughter's first school play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Although this does stand up alright on its own, this was written to fit into the 'verse of [It Takes Two To Tango](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1757977/chapters/3758425); if you haven't read that, maybe consider reading it first?

                David won’t stop tapping his foot.

                Every so often, Catherine nudges him, and he gives her a sheepish grin and tries to calm down. But it doesn’t take long for his anxiety to pick back up.

                “It’s going to be great,” she tells him quietly. “You’ve nothing to worry about.”

                “Haven’t I, though?” David looks down at his phone to check the time; exactly a minute has passed since he last looked. Still five minutes to go before curtain. “This is her first time on stage. What if something goes wrong and it’s incredibly traumatic and she can never get up on stage again?”

                Catherine raises her eyebrows, amused. “I’m rather certain you’re more nervous than Sarah. It’s just a primary school play, love. Hardly even a play—it’s mostly an excuse to put them on stage so that we can discuss with the other parents how charming our children are.”

                He doesn’t answer, instead opting to glance down at his phone again. She pats his hand gently before clutching and squeezing it tight. “If you’d like to waste some time, you could call my mum and check in on the baby.”

                David grimaces. “That won’t help. Right now I’m in a great place where I’ve deluded myself into thinking that he’s been no trouble and she’s already got him to sleep.”

                “Oh, yes, I like that image.” Catherine smiles and closes her eyes. “Keep talking.”

                “Well, she’ll also probably have calmed him down enough that he won’t wake up all night and we won’t have to feed him. In fact, he’ll even let us sleep in tomorrow.”

                “Next you’re going to tell me that Sarah won’t insist that I remake her toast three times at breakfast.”

                “I can’t promise miracles…” David says, letting out a loud, forlorn sigh which makes Catherine giggle. He smiles proudly, forever pleased to evoke such a reaction from her.

                The lights in the auditorium dim soon after, and the ragged curtain opens, revealing a gang of children spread out across the stage in tacky homemade costumes. Several of them seek out and wave at their parents in the audience within seconds of the curtain opening, something which, according to Sarah, they were told repeatedly _not_ to do.

                There’s no real plot to the play. They sing a few songs, they preach some bizarre message about how sharing is caring, and they sing some more. But then most of the class leaves the stage, leaving a few pairs of kids toward the front—Sarah included. She steps forward on the stage with one of the boys from her class and David shifts in his seat, immediately becoming anxious once again.

                As soon as their teacher begins to plunk out a song on the keyboard, Sarah and this boy begin dancing. It’s clumsy and they’re making mistakes all over the place but Sarah beams from ear to ear and David nudges Catherine proudly, informs her in a loud whisper, “I taught her how to do that.” When she gives him a look, he quickly adds, “With your help, of course.”

                The dance routine ends almost as soon as it began and all of those kids leave the stage, replaced by another small group who sing a round together. David settles back into his seat, the potential crisis averted.

                “She looked great,” he told Catherine softly. “Did you see how great she looked?”

                Catherine nods, her eyes still facing front, but she squeezes David’s hand again to reassure him that she’s not just agreeing because she knows that’s what he wants to hear. “I told you there was nothing to worry about.”

                After the show finishes, the parents file out into the hallway. They stand together, waiting for their children outside of two classrooms that are doubling as dressing rooms. They discuss how charming their children were.

                When Sarah emerges, she is bright-eyed and energetic as she lunges into David’s arms. The second he picks her up, she reaches out an arm to throw around Catherine’s neck and the two parents stand there together, holding their daughter proudly in their arms as she rambles. “Did you see me, Mum? I was up there dancing, just like you and Dad, did you see?”

                “We did see, it was absolutely lovely!” Catherine tells her. She and David make eye contact and smile as Sarah continues to gush.

                David finally sets her down so that the three of them can walk to the car. She is initially reluctant to leave, until David points out to her that once they get home, she can tell her nan about the show before having to go off to bed.

                They leave her to do just that when they get home. “Only for ten minutes, love,” Catherine warns. “Then it’s bedtime.”

                In the meantime, Catherine and David go up to check on Jamie who is, just as they’d hoped, fast asleep. They stand over him quietly, enjoying a silence that’s only broken by David’s murmured, “I told you he’d be asleep.”

                She rolls her eyes and elbows him in the side and he grins, unabashed, before leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. Catherine turns her head so that she can peck him on the lips instead.

                As they head back downstairs to officially relieve Catherine’s mother from duty, David says slowly, “If Josephine asks, you’ll tell her that I knew it would go great the whole time, right?”

                Catherine chuckles. “Certainly. Although just so we’re clear, if it didn’t go well, it would have been because you insisted on helping her figure out her dance.”

                “Hey! I like to think I’ve picked up a fair amount from you over the years.”

                “Some. Although there’s definitely still work to be done.”

                “Oh, that’s very much on purpose. Things are more interesting if there’s always something new to try.”

                Catherine lets out a long-suffering sigh. “I’d actually laugh if you weren’t smirking so proudly. You’re unbelievable, love.” She raises her voice as they enter the kitchen. “I think it’s about time for _someone_ to go to bed…”

                Sarah protests all the way through their nightly routine, and the play has left her so hyped up that David and Catherine add two extra books to their bedtime stories pile for the night.

                But finally, she settles in for the night and both David and Catherine give their daughter one last hug, congratulating her once again on her excellent performance that evening.

                They fall onto the sofa together to watch a bit of telly before bed. One of the few pieces of furniture that survives from either of their apartments, the sofa is ragged and sagging and both David and Catherine know that it needs to be replaced, but they’ve been putting it off for months.

                “Remind me why I thought raising kids would be fun?” David says after a brief lull in conversation.

                “You and I both know that you’re loving every minute of it,” Catherine retorts.

                “Maybe a little bit,” he amends, glancing at her with a smile. “But sometimes the stress of taking care of those two is… a lot.”

                “Not too much, I hope.”

                David shakes his head distractedly, his attention now shifting to the telly.

                “Think it’s low enough that you can handle adding one more to the mix?”

                If Catherine was losing his attention, she regains it with that question. He stares at her blankly for a number of seconds. At some point, a quiet, “Oh,” comes out of his mouth.

                He sits back and pulls her to him, and she automatically tucks her head on his shoulder, in the crook of his neck.

                “How would you feel about Leela if it’s a girl?” David asks.

                “Is that another _Doctor Who_ character?”

                “Would you believe me if I said no?”

                Catherine smiles and shuts her eyes. “We have nine months to talk about it.”


End file.
